I’ve always loved this vintage photo titled “Artists of Mount Kisco,” which persistently pops up in histories of early 20th-century artists and the appealing early tourist destinations in New York State’s Adirondack Mountains. But guess what! Mount Kisco isn’t in the Adirondacks – it’s farther south, in fact only about 20 miles from my birthplace in a suburb of New York City. All the better!
The artist with the most name recognition in this group is Alfred Stieglitz – second from the right with ruffled hair and glasses. He was a giant in establishing early 20th-century photography as an art form and, oh by the way, he was the husband of Georgia O’Keeffe.
In my years of familiarity with this photo, I’d imagined these folks staying in the modest summer boarding houses for which the Adirondacks were famous. Diving deeper recently, I found that Stieglitz, for one, stayed in the summer place (palace?) of Eugene Meyer, owner of The Washington Post and, with his wife Agnes, major philanthropists. Here it is – Seven Springs Farm.
As I stowed away Summer Camp lists and supplies, I thought I’d commemorate my own selection of artists by placing them in the Mt. Kisco spotlight – dressed in the wardrobe of their choosing. Let’s start up that trail!
I’d planned to do this without a map, which might not have been a good idea.
Here’s the final.
And just so you can match them to their featured posts in Summer Camp 2026, here’s the big reveal -- labels with identifiers. I’ll bet Seurat had to fight for that camo jacket. And isn’t “Easel” the best possible name for the dog?
It’s a funny thing about taking a break like this. You get to know people in a particular context, away from the everyday -- and then it really is time to move on -- but always to something new and promising.
“I think that to one in sympathy with nature,
each season, in turn, seems the loveliest.”
― Mark Twain
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